Tuesday, April 06, 2010

My plan had been to write about baseball this week. But then the Astros didn’t do so well on Opening Day and I got word about an award this blog won so, well, I decided to bake cowboy cookies instead. I hope you don’t mind.

Cowboy cookies probably have very little to do with cowboys, but this doesn’t mean they’re not good. Typically, a cowboy cookie is defined by the presence of brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, chocolate and nuts. And some people doll them up even more by throwing in some coconut and raisins as well.

My assumption is that the recipe for cowboy cookies was probably originally found on a package of oatmeal or brown sugar. I couldn’t find proof of this, but a little digging did reveal that the recipe has probably been around for at least 60 years as I read a document written in the early 1980s that said one woman's recipe had been in her family for over 40 years. And yep, it was the same one we all use today.
I also found a recipe for cowboy cookies in a 1959 edition of the Toledo Blade, though this one was completely different. This cowboy cookie called for molasses, coffee and boiling water, along with eggs, butter and flour. Perhaps there’s a hint of authenticity to that recipe as those ingredients are more likely to be found on a chuck wagon than chocolate chips and oatmeal. I didn’t make those cookies, however, as I wasn’t in the mood for a cookie made with coffee—I wanted the cowboy cookie I’d grown up with, full of oats, chocolate and nuts. And my, these did not disappoint.

Now, about that award. Well, I don’t want to sound boastful, but I have to say that I am over the moon that Homesick Texan was recognized in the First Annual Saveur Food Blog Awards as best regional cuisine blog. A Texas-sized congratulations to all the winners and nominees. And also, many thanks to both Saveur and you for your support. Now go enjoy these cookies—I baked them for you!

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is heating, place the pecans in an oven-safe skillet and roast in the oven for five minutes. Remove from oven.

Cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and add to butter, sugar and egg mixture. Beat until well incorporated, and then stir in oats, chocolate chips and roasted pecans.

Roll dough into walnut-sized balls, place on parchment-sheet lined cookie sheets and bake for 14-17 minutes. Should make about 24 cookies.

my dad's favorite cookies are almost just like these except with bacon instead of chocolate chips. i had some bacon and some cookies and he flippantly suggested bacon cookies. so i made them for him and we were all surprised by how tasty they were.

When I was growing up, my family called Cowboy Cookies chocolate chip cookies made with M&Ms instead of chocolate chips. I've never heard otherwise until today, but apparently, my family just made this craziness up.

Congratulations on your award! I love learning about Texas cooking, and hope you keep sharing for a long time to come!

You deserve oh so many awards! I love that your recipes are precise enough that I don't feel left in the dark, but are written in a way that allows me to learn techniques and styles. I cook so many different things based on the basic techniques I've learned from your blog. Plus, I grew up in the southwest and now live in CT...while Texan food isn't quite the same as what I grew up on, it is delicious and it totally does the trick! Congratulations!

So many congrats on your award! You deserve it. These cookies remind me of some cookies my mom used to bake when I was little - I think she called them Ranger cookies for some strange reason. The combination of flavors sounds good to me, no matter what they're called!

Congratulations on your award! I am not a Texan, but I believe there is a kinship between people that recognize that bacon and gravy have their own place in the food pyramid.

I never knew what these cookies were called all I knew was my favorite cookie was oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip, coconut, and nut! We called it the "Loaded Cookie". I was the only that would eat them, so I didn't get them very often until I learned to bake. My mom complained that I had so many things in the cookies that the batter was just a binder! That's how it should be sometimes!

My grandma wasn't the sort of grandmother who baked delicious cookies and cakes and served them adoringly to her grandchildren. She was the sort of grandmother that would make you a dry turkey sandwich - half if she thought you were looking a little chubby. She did, however, make cookies that were very similar to these. She called them Pat Boone cookies and we gobbled them up whenever they made an appearance. Thanks for the great memory (and a recipe that doesn't include a couple sticks of lard).

Congratulations on your award!!! I am new to your blog and this is my first post. My best friend emailed me a link (we are both homesick texans living across the country from one another) I just made the cookies and I am eating one right now as I type this-Delicious. These cookies are easy and quick to make. I hope everyone tries them. Thanks for the good work and all the entertainment and memories of back home.

These are a family favorite -- and they are in the La Pinata cookbook, the McAllen Jr. League cookbook we were discussing a couple of posts back! But ours have shortening in them. Slightly different mouth feel.

I've made them with a few butterscotch chips thrown in, and the results are also a hit.

I'm another homesick Texan in California... who's going home again in August. (Well, sorta. Home is Houston, and I'm moving back to Austin.) I'm looking forward to all of the queso, bbq, and Ninfa's green sauce I can eat.

Oh, but don't worry. I will continue to use your blog as my "family" recipe book. I can't tell you how many times I've passed off a delicious meal that I've cooked straight from here as my own homemade versions of childhood classics. Thanks for being an enabler. In fact, this cookie recipe has jumped to the front of the line for my next dinner party.

I make those cookies too! And I use pecans instead of the walnuts it lists. They don't last long!

I first made them when I was teaching preschoolers and for the letter C we made the Cowboy cookies. Went well with the cowboy theme of the week. They loved it and I have been making them at home ever since.

My great-grandmother made these and always called them Ranger Cookies, too. I never got the recipe from her before she passed a decade ago, and there are so many conflicting recipes online. Yours sounds most like what I remember. Woohoo!

I suspect these may actually be named after the old west- cowboys and the (non-baseball) Texas Rangers are not all that disimilar with their horse ridin', hat wearin' and gun totin'. I've seen these called "kitchen sink" cookies online as well and cowboys were known for putting together meals with what they had. It sounds plausible to me, at least. I could be making things up, though. Wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong. But it sounds good to me and my great-grandma was a little western ways.

Lisa, Congratulations on the award. I just discovered your blog about two weeks ago and it has quickly become a favorite. Also, thank you! I've been trying to find a mole recipe for a while and tried yours last week - it is fantastic. Now I'm off to cook the Cowboy Cookies.

Congrats on your award! That is totally awesome and certainly well-deserved. BTW, last week I visited my Texan grandkids who now live in Calgary and I made your flour tortillas for our fajitas--they were pronounced the "best tortillas in the whole world." So there, you have it on good authority! (Your recipe really is the easiest and best one I've ever made.)

Well deserved! I actually also voted for you as well. We've recreated green chili, pozole, and of course - the tortillas - in my Tex-pat kitchen, and it's taken me down nostalgia lane...(and cured some of my homesickness, if only for a short while). Thanks and congratulations!

Congrats on the award! These cookies look amazing, wish I had some right now, but as a fellow New Yorker, I have no ingredients in my kitchen... ah well. To be honest, even if I had the ingredients, I have no skill, so what the hell. I'm off to BUY cookies! =)

Cowboy Cookies are the type of cookie Laura Bush submitted to Family Circle for the Presidential First Ladies Cookie Bake-off. For the past 50 years, the winning cookie also matched the election. Further to the point, Michelle Obama's cookies beat out Cindy McCain's last year.

I can't wait to try this recipe out! I have recently moved from Houston to Washington state and am in serious withdrawel from all things Texas. Hopefully these cookies will make up for the Astros losses so far!

What a coincidence--a friend sent me a link to your blog today after I made these cookies (from the Saveur recipe, which also includes coconut--I think this is important for texture and softness) and told her they were Texan (I'm a Texan transplanted in Washington DC). Everyone LOVES these cookies. My tricks: I double the recipe (no need to mess with tablespoons this way since 12 Tbs=3/4 c), let the dough sit in the fridge for a day or two before baking, bake them extra large (golf ball sized), and sprinkle them liberally with sea salt when they come out of the oven. Thanks for the great blog!

THANK YOU for posting this recipe! my boyriend is from texas and has his family send him these cookies to new york. i can't wait to make them for him.you're blog is wonderful, i can't wait to surprise him with all of these recipes

These sound very similar to those "Neiman Marcus Cookies". The one from the chainletter saying they are sending the recipe around because they got charged $250.00 instead of $2.50. Since most versions of that state that it was a Dallas Neiman Marcus that did it, I guess that makes sense.

I made these a few days ago. 17 minutes would have burnt these cookies (maybe I made them too small, because I got way more than 26 good sized cookies.) I took them out after 12 and they were crispy cookies once they had cooled. I'll probably try making these bigger and still cooking them for 12 minutes. They were VERY good!

We have a very similar which has been in our family since the mid 40's. The only difference in the recipe is the quantity (6 dozen cookies), baking time, and no cinnamon or nuts. All in all it is the cookie recipe I grew up and the one my boys now love even better than store bought cookies. I will have to try them with just a hint of cinnamon to see what my crew thinks! (oh my mom was a child in Nebraska when grandma started making this recipe!)

I had a similar problem as Rachel. 17 minutes was way too long, they were overdone (though not quite burnt) and very flat. I ended up adding a bit more flour, lowering the oven temperature 20 degrees and only baking them for 11 minutes and then they came out looking like how yours do above. The pecans only toasted for 7 minutes too and they were very close to getting burnt. 6 minutes probably would have been better. The cookies have a great flavor to them though.

I have made these cookies 3 times in the last 2 weeks and everybody is absolutely LOVING them! My in laws, my neighbers, nephews and best friends! A new concept for the likes of us non cowboys here in Sydney.... we are all going nutty over them and they are getting guzzled away quick! Thank you so much for sharing. The recipe is a keeper xo

Saya--I'm glad you like the recipe, but unfortunately, you can't post the picture nor the recipe on your blog. Here's more information about proper ways to link to blogs. http://foodblogalliance.com/2009/04/recipe-attribution.php Thanks.

What I love about this cookie is the chocolate chips. I'm always so disappointed when my oatmeal cookie contains raisins. Chocolate is so much better! By the way, I made my way here from Andi's newsletter today.

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